By now, we have all noticed the hundreds of ads posted by people and companies onto Facebook. The variety of ads on facebook is wide in range - how many of them catch your attention - from State Farm to The Foundation for a Better Life advertisements, their rheatorical approach captures attention. Often times when people like video on youtube they'll post the video on facebook. The video posted above is a commercial from The Foundation for a Better Life and promotes "the power of the dream" and to "pass it on".
The Power of Dreaming
The dreaming that really counts is what you do when you’re awake. Dreaming is a vital part of human existence.
The Foundation for a Better Life is an organization that began as an idea to advertise positive values. Now, throughout communities around the world this organization has begun spread positive values. According to The Foundation for a Better, their TV spots are seen in over 200 countries around the world; in Spanish and Portuguese in 23 counties throughout Latin America. Winning an excessive number of awards for their, Billboards, TV, Radio PSAs and Website, it’s quite obvious that this organization is doing some things right in terms of using rhetorical devices. The use of logos, pathos, and ethos are essential tools in reinforcing the epidemic of passing on positive values. Additionally, the use of architectural space, images, and popular songs effectively create a bridge used to communicate from organization to audience. This same technique is used for many commercials. There are two points of view that one can see, there is the person receiving the help (in the commercial, this person is portrayed as a student or young dancer) or the person giving the help (this person is portrayed as a teacher or a coach as a motivator/authority figure). Students can relate more closely to the students in the commercial and the motivation to not give up on your dreams and push through all obstacles. The adults may relate more to the motivators in this specific advertisement, which could give them the motivation to help and encourage the younger people that are close to them. The audience is watching and picking up most on the use of pathos subconsciously, which shows the effectiveness of this commercial. Ethos is not expressed up front, because this topic is something that people live with every day, but ethos does play a role in the advertisement.
The Foundation for a Better Life commercial promotes, “The Power of Dreaming”. It is an important event that this commercial is subliminally transferring to the people. The event, well – it is happening every day. Some might call it an epidemic, values that are being passed on through acts of kindness and generosity, teaching and dreaming. The claim that’s brewing in this advertisement is the idea that everyone may gain certain steadfastness and focus on the power of dreaming; although sometimes one might need others’ encouragement, the power exists. The Foundation for a Better Life targets anyone that has the faith of a mustard seeds in achieving and believing – more specifically the youth and those that may have a desire to encourage them. In the ad, defeat is indicated. However, the produces uses that to further promote the idea that if one feels defeated, just believe step away from defeat and you can achieve it (the dream). Strive to the dream you have always dreamed. Ultimately, we work exhausting hard, and for what? Well, the power of dreaming shows, that hard work brings people closer to their goals. Defeat does not really exist; it is merely an assisted helping in the discovery of a dream. This commercial evokes many pleasures such as, achievement, encourage, love, kindness, and others – all of which ultimately appeals to one’s heart. The Foundation for a Better Life simply ministers to its audience. All the while the commercial is going on, notice that The Power of the Dream by Celine Dion is playing as a soundtrack. This song is very inspirational and pushes the listener’s sense of pathos by tugging at his/her heartstrings in a musically strong manner. This particular song commands the audience in a way that really makes them think about the content of the commercial.
The body language in this commercial is very interesting because while the dancer and the student seem like a parallel, they have different stories. The student was teased when his rocket didn’t fly, but the dancer was alone with her coach. The teacher stood beside the student, while the coach looked disappointed in his dancer. The student took initiative and continued to keep up with his dream and the teacher came back to assist him to success. The dancer was disappointed and gave up but the coach came straight to her and helped her up to her success as well. It is interesting that there was no use in dialogue in the commercial at all and the action made the point of the commercial very plain. The song is playing very loudly, and it was not just in the background so the body language had to be big and strong as well. The dancer was deaf, and that was made clear through the signing to her friends after she succeeds in doing her gymnastics.
Often times we expect commercial and advertisements to promote a product. However, in the case, notice an idea is being promoted; an idea that – according to statistics, has become a growing epidemic around the world. Probably gets two thumbs up from our crown rhetoricians, huh? There are two messages that this commercial presents. Not only the power of dreaming, but also the powers of helping people achieve their dreams and passing positive values along, which happens to be the main idea of this organization. Through pathos audiences gather most of the content from this commercial. For some, when commercials first come on, he/she begins to analyze, but as the commercial continues he/she is beginning to understand the product or the service that is being sold to them. In this particular commercial one’s initial response may be an emotional attachment to the idea of encouragement and dreaming. Why do audiences think that this commercial is being presented? The body language, the music choice, and the organization’s beliefs help shape this commercial to be what it is. The sense of audience’s pathos is very strong, while the ethos and logos do not have to be as strong due to the content of the commercial and the ideas it presents. Although this idea and concept is growing, there is still a lack of commitment to individual tasks and staying true to one’s dreams. It is important to never give up and to stay motivated whether it be during classes or extra-curricular activities. On the other hand, it is always good to have those failures, so you can see what you actually achieve when you work hard. This is shown through the happiness on the gymnasts face when she achieves her goal. It also feels good who support the youth because they see how much it affects them. If that gymnast had succeeded from the beginning, she would not be able to feel that happiness she did when she achieved her dream. This is real life. Everybody has a story like this every single day and if the viewer is having that sort of day and sees this commercial, their sprits will be lifted and they will be inspired.
- Derell Jones
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